SPOILER ALERT! There appears to be irony in the title since THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN offers no laughs. The efficient director Stuart Rosenberg makes an efficient crime thriller (about a psychopath on the loose in San Francisco and the cops who track him) but unfortunately, it's little more than that. It's cold, sometimes slow and completely devoid of laughs, despite the presence of Walter Matthau, who managed to add at least some (black) comedy to even the bleakest films (FAIL SAFE, CHARLIE VARRICK). Nevertheless, Matthau is still fine and Bruce Dern is excellent as his unexpected partner. There's also a really fine performance buried in the film by Cathy Lee Crosby (as the distraught wife of Matthau's first partner). Lou Gossett Jr. is a less than patient fellow cop and Anthony Zerbe is Matthau's crusty yet benign superior. A massacre on board a public bus is a real highlight. It's quite frightening.